More progress on my house, at least from the outside perspective. Almost all of the back-facing siding is up, which only leaves one more side to go! It will look like a complete house from the outside, so then I need some basics like bathrooms, kitchen cabinetry, and floors put in. Hopefully Cankles McTaco Tits won’t fuck up supply chains, tariffs, and labor supplies anymore for me. The recent rains have been good for the garden, including the yellowing bamboo, which is now greener. The neighbor’s trees are growing into my inner side yard, so I’ll have to contend with that soon before they bring down the fence.

Since the roof went up, another major step has begun. The actual SIDING of the house has started to go up. The whole house will be painted to match the siding that survived the fire, of course, but this was one of the major steps I was waiting for. I still feel like there is so much damn work to be done and I don’t think I’ll be in before the holidays, which has made me extremely upset. It’s not so much that there’s anything sacrosanct about the holidays to me, but I know that moment will come to a crawl at that time of year, so I wanted it the fuck over with. Days like today, despite the progress, are really melancholy for me and I can’t believe I’m still stuck in this situation like a pawn. This project should NEVER have taken two years, and January 18 will be the two-year mark since the worst day of my life.

We thought the floors were being installed, but it looks like some of the pieces of the subflooring were just being replaced. What’s staged in the garage might be flooring or more siding. It’s hard to tell.

I’ve waited for many months since I chose these shingles to see them on my roof. Ironically I’ll barely see them after the solar panels go up, but it does give me a sense of relief that they are completely done, especially before the rainy season. It’s also a huge sign toward the house being ready in the near future, but not too near enough for me.

Covering the HVAC, which was getting leaves and fruit dropping from the neighbor’s tree. I want the tree hangover to be trimmed because every year this causes a lot of work for me, although at least I was able to put it in compost and ate a few of the fruits.

HVAC was put in and has power, but the vents are not in the most ideal places. I wanted to hang a specific tapestry in this area, but now I will not be able to because of the placement of this vent that was not there before.

Painting of the rooms has been done. We are pleased with the final green and gray colors. The purple of the big room is very consistent with how I bought the house, and I love it.

I’m very concerned about rodents getting into the crawl space, as that’s what caused the fire. The wires must be covered with metal to be impenetrable.

After moving in these trees were dramatically pruned so that the window overlooking the next door neighbor and my house was fully exposed. Now that they are finally growing back, I hope they are never pruned again, although I will be adding some privacy to a few areas.

It was very nice to see no drywall piled up in the garage: